cowpuc

IMHO, not really.. It's really not apples to apples though because the non-balanced 70 horse V-4 motor only spins up to 4750 rpms which doesn't even cross over the 5252 rpms line where it is performing in HP Heaven (what I call it).. The balanced V-4's are a capable of, and are designed to run well beyond that 5252 rpm line (due in big part because of the balance shaft) and they all develop wayyy more HP then the putzy/lazy unbalanced motor.. I have rode them both and, IMHO, the vibration comparison you are referring to may or may not be relevant as up to their perspective red lines (4750 for unbalanced,, 10500 for a balanced V-Max, 7500 for a balanced MK1) the vibes I felt, in a properly tuned/properly synced/similar tires/lubed drive shaft system was the same.. I have a hunch (and am fairly sure of this) that the balance shaft placed in the V-4 was placed there just as much,, and maybe more,, for engine longevity as it was for rider comfort..

You got siblings?? May be different in the far north but down here big brothers ALWAYS pick on little brothers,,, its actually a way of showing love and that big brother cares for you (hope that got me out of another whoopen Mama:fingers-crossed-emo)

makes more sense then pulling the top of the motor all apart everytime you wanna do a simple syncing of the carbs little french brother of mine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :rasberry:

All good advice that I have read here IMHO.. Only thing I might add is that I would double check interlocks while having fun with it.. That sneaky kickstand switch has caused me pause at times but it sure sounds suspiciously like a solenoid/relay issue to me too..

The link in the post above will take you to a complete explanation of the correct procedure IF you are working on an RSV and not a MK1 or MK2 Recycled.. Click and take a peek!!

ahhhh,, not necessarily so IMHO.. Thinking back in history of my times spent furiously CTFW on these 1st Gens I can count on a hand with no fingers how many times I have pulled the covers and checked/set the lash on one of my V-4's,,, translated Frenchy - means in well over 1 million miles ridden aboard 6 1st Gen MK1's I have never,, not even once,, opened one up and even checked the valve lash.. On the other side of the coin though,, because the quad carb bank is mechanically linked (easy to lose sync) and knowing how easy it is to sync them up (20 minutes max) I always checked sync at oil changes when home,, usually ends up being at least a dozen times a year. Same with checking compression,, I only do/use that when I am seeing something happening that I dont like and I wonder if it involves a compression issue.. That said,, I can only think of one time that I did a compression check on one of my V-4's - yep,, these V-4's have been that reliable/durable in my situation..

Yep,, I hear that Sky!! Had my weathered eye not noticed I was for the RSV tech section when I innocently got drawn into this discussion I would have easily of done the same.

and a reminder to you and all other lop eared VR past/present/future varmints,, fact is according to our Club theme song,, you can join but you can never leave!! Here,, I'll translate that for you Frenchy: https://youtu.be/niIX0QcYRzE

He's talking RSV though Sky and those are MK1/MK2 syncs.. Totally different syncing..

I am so sorry to read this BP!! You and your family have my deepest condolences my friend!! Also,count me as one who will be praying for each of you as you work thru such a great loss!!! Puc

Yeppers,, Michigan is kind of messy right now Rod,, same as lots of places I am sure.. My last nail from the nail tosser was a 2 inch metal decking screw of the type meant for steel building siding/roofing.. Right thru the sidewall this time.. Couldnt get the thing to stop leaking with plugs.. Everything around here is locked up tight, ended up picking up a tire online and having it shipped to me.. It was suppose to be a next day delivery and ended up being 4 days.. Having tire spoons and being use to spooning on my own scoot tires I was going to take and attempt at spooning one on a car wheel and balancing it like I do my bike tires but ended up finding a rebellious indy that was open,, mounted and balanced for 11 dollars!! Told em thanks for being there and double thanks for not doing the price gouging routine like many are doing.. Definitely a tippable situation!!

Here ya go brother!!! Straight from the guru's!!! If this dont answer your question/solve your problem hang around and one of these pro's will figure it out!!! https://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?258-Syncronizing-the-Carbs

I have done my 83's hundreds of times but only did an RSV sync one time.. To my recollect,, the OEM instructions on the process were wrong and I had to figure it by trial and error.. Before it got stolen out of my shop I used a handy little Twinmax digital that would only do 2 at a time too and used it successfully many times on other twins,, I am sure you can do the same.. Hold on and I will see if I can find some info to help you out!!

ipt IMHO,, this is what you may be missing.. As a natural/normal part of the internal combustion engine, in carbueetor equipped engines even more so the EFI if the injected engine is tuned properly as they can be tuned to more perfection, there is always an element of carbon build up.. While this is mostly noted for taking place in the combustion chamber (head, top of piston, deck and so on) due to the issues the carbon causes with performance (such as creating spark knock and misfiring), there is always a build up of carbon inside of the exhaust headers and exhaust system.. When heated by the exiting exhaust, carbon deposits will emit highly combustable fumes of their own that can and do create explosions (popping) if air is introduced into the exhaust system via and air leak in a cracked/pin holed pipe or thru a bad exhaust gasket.. I discovered this many many years ago while using a torch and a coat hanger to patch up an exhaust system.. I am sure you can replicate my experience simply by putting a plug in the end of your bikes exhaust and taking a torch and heating up the header pipe next to a known exposed small opening in the system .. By the way,, for many years my lop eared gearheaded friends never believed me when I explained to them what I had experienced.. Their thought was always that there was no way that exhaust, passing thru the pipes, could possible get the carbon within the pipes to that kind of temp. This thought completely disappeared though when the first Titanium exhaust pipes came out and we were all riding dirt bikes one night with Ti pipes on them.. It was a beautiful site to see the looks on some nay sayer faces as the looked down at the brightly glowing red header pipes as the bikes were setting there idling..

Max,, it sounds to my untrained beaner like you may be experiencing plugged low speed jets/jet circuitry in one of more of your bikes 4 carbs.. Possibly even a high speed jet to two too.. That being said, the following copy/paste of a post I made years ago is something I have done successfully through the years to unplug jets (did a LOT of dealer auctions years ago and used this a lot in the field to get abandoned bikes to possibly fire up.. IMHO,, it worked pretty good for me).. It may or may not be worth a read.. Either way,, all the best with your project!! ***** word of caution!! It would be best if you used spray carb cleaner in the syringe and not Chem Dip as Chem Dip is fairly sensitive to work with.. Not getting the Chem Dip out of the bowls in time can/will result in damage to rubber o-rings and diaphrams.. Normal carb cleaner found at auto parts stores can be injected and left for long periods of time in the bowls with no damage being done.. **** I also believe I have a video of this process that I made years ago,, if I can find it I will post it up for you. Agreed,, IMHO Randy,, you should have no problembo on the carb rebuild, yep,, your that talented!! You and I both know from experience that when carbs get to the point that you are talking about here they really should be opened up and done properly.. A really really good top to bottom clean, some new jets and a complete rebuild of all rubber parts, taking the time to make sure ALL the passages into the throat of carb are open, triple checking diaphram conditions and replacing if needed, new needle and seats,, all that done, synced up and that puppy will run like a new one.. Then if its cared for the carb overhaul should last for many many years.. Now,, a little secret that I have done successfully many many times after purchasing a scoot that hasnt ran in many years and trying to figure out exactly what I have.. The following advice is NOT for everyone because if not done in a timely fashion = rubber internal carb parts are toast BUT - if you gotta take the carb down any way,, it's worth a shot IMHO and at least for me.. Years ago I did a very scientific test on carb cleaning products to decide which product I was going to use for my plan by seperating the carbs off a junk 750 Honda that had sat for many years with fuel in the tank and petcock open (NASTY) = opening them up and dunking the parts in seperate containers filled with pure, new, 100% undiluted carb cleaning products.. I narrowed my test products down to 4 of the best known products including one that I have used for years as a tank dunk.. Results in order of performance: 1st Place = Berryman's Chem Dip (comes in a one gallon dip tank = have used it for years) = parts came clean in one hour. 2nd Place = That Yellow and White can of carb cleaner that Auto Zone used to sell - they dont sell it any more but it was the stuff that if you got it under your wedding band your finger was INSTANLY on fire!! 8 hour soak and parts came clean. 3rd Place = Blue and White can of GM Injector Cleaner (for the life of me I can think of the actual name of the stuff - been a long time).. 1 day/24 hour soak parts came clean enough that with a small amount of rubbing with a tooth brush the stuff sparkled. 4th Place = Seafoam = left it set for a week and even then the tough stuff was hanging tough.. Still no clue why Seafoam seems to work like it does.. Makes the engine run better but testing showed it was NOT because it was actually cleaning anything.. I did all that above testing because, at the time, I was being over run with bikes of all types that had set for years and I needed to formulate a way to get em going without investing a lot of time and parts money into getting them started just to find out I was dealing with a bad crank or what ever = these were MY bikes NOT a customers bike that I was paid to do a carb rebuild on!!.. A quick,, make em run just to see what I had.. That said,, the following is what I came up with, has worked for me many times, even proved itself to work sometimes to the point that I ended up not needing to pull the carb down BUT - that was not 100%! Its a gamble.. So,, if its worth a shot and your gonna pull the carbs anyway AND your friends plan is to do a complete carb rebuild, here is what I would do first: Centerstand or stand the bike upright so the bowls are level. Shut off the gas, drain the carbs, pull the diaphrams/slides. Pick up a large animal injection syringe from an ag store (should be in your tool box already = very handy ), slide the end of the syringe over the drain line, fill the syringe with Chem Dip and inject Chem Dip into the bowls one at a time until the Chem Dip flows out of the mains a little, close the drain and go to next carb. Allow Chem Dip to set in Carb bowl for 1 hour!! Open Drains one at a time with syringe attached and suck Chem Dip out of bowls emptying syringe back into gallon container of Chem Dip for future use. Fill syringe with Spray carb cleaner of brake cleaner of your choice and inject into bowls until it drips out of mains. Let sit while you fill all the bowls. Go back to first carb filled with carb cleaner - attach syringe, open drain screw, agitate cleaner by pulling syringe in and out - few pulls and you will notice carb cleaner has turned brown.. After pulling cleaner all the way to empty bowl go to next carb and continue till all carbs are empty.. Now start over, do this until you have clean carb cleaner from each bowl after agitation. Now switch over to raw gas, fill bowls again till raw gas is seeping from mains. Agitate and empty 2x. Replace diaphrams/slides making sure that slides are all moving easily in carb casings.. Any sign of sticky = clean until it slides effortlessly.. Button her up, turn on the gas and see what cha got.. Any of that make sense at all brother?? Need a video for clarification = can do.. Another thing I would check very carefully is tank interior.. Look very carefully for rust in tank = any rust gone to stalagtites = tank seal. Most rust dust can easily be cleaned to perfection by emptying tank = fill it with white vinegar (stuff is amazing = personally I have used white vinegar fairly successfully for carb cleaning with the drain/agitate method when the jets are plugged off severly like the one your dealing with are = good stuff). If the tank isnt stalagtited = use vinegar, gotta let it set for a few days is all BUT = it will clean up and not remove the galvanization (in tank sealing removing that galvanization is commonly known as "etching".. If ya gotta seal the tank = Red Kote is THE max!!! Sorry for the long post,, hope it helps somehow!! Best of the best gettin your buddies scoot happening for em Rand = YOU DA MAN!!

yep,, :sign yeah that: and lots more of !! BUT,,always remember and never forget,, if all else fails you can ALWAYS:

oh,, by the way Boko,, :group cheers:

Yamaha used the same balance shaft in all balanced V-4's including the GEN 1 V-Max Boko.. There was a run of non-balanced V-4's in the Royal Star Classics from 96 till 99 (as I recall,, may be wrong on the years) with the smaller 26mm carbs that didnt sell well,, wayyy to putzy IMHO but other than those that did not have a balance shaft and the later GEN 2 1700cc V-Maxes,, the balance shafts from 83 up were the same according to parts fiche found here: https://www.yamahapartshouse.com/oemparts/a/yam/500459d7f8700209bc793ba4/crankshaft-piston

dork wad computers are a blessing and a curse aint they brother Do those old puters do anything,, anything at all if ya plug em in and hit the start button?

IMHO Zin,, your getting the best of the best advice thus far,, could not agree more with the above posts!! I did notice you mention exhaust popping.. Most, if not almost all, of the popping exhaust issues I have had the honor of dealing with have somehow come back to air getting into the exhaust system.. Even a tiny little rust hole or a leaky gasket of the smallest version can cause popping.. I can't help but now wonder if your scoot has a header pipe to head donut gasket leaking a bit and maybe contributing to the smoke you are seeing somehow.. Long shot but what the heck,, what the hay...

Well,, this is about as back yard mechanican as you can get but its always worked for me.. 1st thing that theoryized thru the years was that,, regardless of what vehicles starter we are talking about but especially applicable to small starters as found in motorcycles and garden tractors = using an old, weak battery is one of the hardest things you can use/do to your starter = IMHO,, if its struggling to turn,, heat is building up between the windings and that is not a good thing if you like to get max distance/use out of a starter (or any motor IMHO).. Batteries are cheap,, not uncommon for me to replace my lead/acid batteries every year or at least every couple years.. I also discovered early in my adVentures with my 2 brush 1st Gens that when they started doing the old hard start when hot routine,, if I removed the starter, opened it up,, cleaned the armature dust out real well and paid xtra attention to the groves in the armature and other close quarters to get them spotless = as new = the starters acted like they were new again!! One of my non genius theories of why that was has always been that the dust in there was cause voltage tracking/leaking and sucking the life out of the blood of the windings.. Crazy,, I know BUT,, it has always worked for me and never did the 4 brush upgrade and never even did the bigger cable routine.. Go figure..

Thanks Boss,, yeah,, INDEED IT DOES BROTHER,, INDEED IT DOES! :thumbsup:

Awe,, thanks for the compliment Kev,, it was indeed a true pleasure making your aquaintance at The Dalles rally in Oregon my friend!! You are welcome on the sharing here to brother, my pleasure!! Also,, I got a hunch I got some pics or videos or both of that Rally that I will mix in with my "Don's MD" stuff here if no else joins in to keep making the Lemonade lemony.. Sort of mixed fruit drink of Lemonade so to speak!! Keep an eye on this thread ya lop eared varmint cause you may enjoy the taste of whats to come! Good to hear from you Kev!! Puc P.S. Tip says hi and sends a :bighug:your way,,, always smiling and hugging varmints that one is!!

I ran Wally Worlds cheap non synthetic "Supertech" in my 1st Gens for 100's of thousands of miles thru the years and was always impressed with the stuff.. Never an issue,, I never had a catastrophic failure on any of them and always ended up getting well over 200k miles out of the bikes before I retired em and this was bikes that either came to me with 2nd gear missing or had the second gear fail while I was riding it.. Of course, as you know,, the loss of 2nd gear failing had absolutely nothing to do with the cheap oil - just saying that cause some reader that knows nothing of the 1st Gen 2nd gear issue may read this and think it was the oils fault.. I LOVED the Wall Mart stuff cause I could ALWAYS find it,, it was dirt cheap, Walmarts always let me swap oil in the parking lot and dump my old oil back in automotive and the non-High Energy weight selections were awesome (20/50 Supertech = PERFECT for desert temps).. I have always followed my own ideas of when to change oils in a wet clutch oil bath unit construction scoot = I swap when the oil gets dirty = not uncommon to do so around 2500 miles,, 1500 if Tip/Tweeks and I been doing a lot of off roading,, so having a Walmart at every corner always worked Great!! Will not surprise me even one tiny little bit to here you state that you are extremely pleased with the stuff after using it for a bit Sky!! Puc

,,, :95:!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :lightbulb:,,, We could take the lemons life has dealt us and make lemonade!!! We could post pictures of MD's gone by and keep it going till the day of freedom arrives!! I thought of it,, I will go first!! (humble and an introvert aint I?)